The Stat Line of the Night — 6/1/10 — Scott Rolen

Scott Rolen was on the St. Louis Cardinals when they won the World Series in 2006. In fact, he was an integral part of that team. His hitting and fielding helped propel the Cards to the Championship. Unfortunately for Rolen, his injury woes caught up with him the next year and he was traded away. Coming back to St. Louis could not have been easy for him. He took it in stride though. Now, as a Cincinnati Red, he was able to help his new team overcome his old one in a 9-8 shootout.

Rolen was 3 for 5 at the plate last night. He hit 2 home runs and drove in four. He hit one in the 1st inning and one in the 3rd. He also added an RBI double. His ability to help his team get the win was great and has the whole city of Cincinnati thankful, but no one more so than his own pitcher, Johnny Cueto. Thanks to Rolen’s monster bat, Cueto’s terrible start will not go down in the books as a loss.

The Reds are in 1st place in the NL Central right now. Before last night’s game they were in a tie with the Cardinals, but this game helped them vault ahead and back into first place. Everyone seems to assume the Reds are just hot and the Cardinals will eventually overtake them, but a combination of timely hitting and solid pitching has the Reds primed to make a run this year. Scott Rolen may need to rack up a few more “Statline of the Night”-type games, but there is no reason to think he can’t.